The Patriots, making their first state appearance, finish the season at 25-2. Unranked Hiland (19-8) will play No. 2 Arlington (26-1) for the championship Saturday at 10:45 a.m. Arlington defeated Mansfield St. Peter’s (21-5) in the other semifinal, 55-44.
This will be the seventh trip to the title game in the last 12 years for Hiland, located in the middle of Amish Country in the eastern part of the state. It has won four titles and been runner-up twice.
“We certainly had our chances,” said Tri-Village coach Brad Gray. “They weren’t hitting their free throws. We got it down to a one-possession game a couple of times but couldn’t get a break.”
Hiland led 46-38 with 3:44 left, ran the clock to draw fouls and got into the one-and-one with 2:30 to go. Usually a 65-percent team from the line, Hiland began to bang freebies off the back of the rim, missing front ends of four straight one-and-ones.
Tri-Village’s Kayla Linkous finally caught fire with seven straight points to get the Pats within 48-45 with 48 seconds to go. With a chance to bring her team within one, Linkous drove the lane and got hammered on a shot attempt with no call.
Tri-Village guard Shaye Thomas picked up the loose ball after Linkous shot but was tied up with possession going to Hiland. Guard Emily Yoder was immediately fouled and hit two free throws to make it 50-45.
Linkous hit two more free throws with 33.8 left for a 50-47 game. But Hiland knocked down three of four free throws in the final 20 seconds.
Linkous had 19 points, all in the second half after only touching the ball five times the entire first half and getting two shots. The 5-foot-11 senior is one of three players-of-the-year in the small school division, averaging 25.7 points per game.
“Our two big girls (Bria Coil and Jasmine Goings, both 6-footers) did a good job leaning on Kayla the first half and not letting her get in position to get the ball in the post,” said Hiland coach Dave Schlabach.
“In the second half we let Yoder put more pressure on their point guard (Thomas) and not allow them to get any offensive flow. I thought we were doing a great job until we began missing free throws.”
The teams set a D-IV record for most 3-point field goals with 16. Hiland hit 8-of-22 and Tri-Village was 8-of-18.
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